BDS refers to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement to pressure Israel to change its policies toward and treatment of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
According to Campus Reform, 20 professors in the UNC system have signed the pledge, which casts Israel as a colonizing state with Palestine as the liberation movement.
Zachary Marschall is the editor-in-chief of Campus Reform. He said that UNC has made great strides when it comes to the rollback of DEI and returning to institutional neutrality, but the information that is being exposed now really shows that this progress is fragile.
"The only people teaching Israel history courses at UNC — it's come out — are people who don't think Israel has a right to exist. I don't think that is reflective of institutional neutrality or the spirit of it,” says Marschall.
In fact, the document that the professors signed condemned academic neutrality, stating that it “normalizes the status quo and reinforces Israel’s impunity.” This is because “research and writing are not enough,” and it highly suggests that scholarship and action should go hand-in-hand.
The pledge even states that studying Palestine should be followed with “political commitment.”
Marschall answers the question that, if this can happen at UNC, what about other universities?
“I think that, if UNC can falter on its progress when it's done so much in the right direction, that makes the situation at universities that have either resisted such reforms, or have less solid foundation for making those reforms, be in an even more perilous situation," says Marschall.
Campus Reform does offer a way for students and parents to share information with the organization. Individuals can visit the Campus Reform website and go to the Send Us A Tip link.
"We will follow up with those people that send us the information, and everyone will be kept anonymous. So, there's no worry about being exposed or getting in trouble for exposing the truth,” says Marschall.
